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ADS - Modern Air Defense Systems ..
Hypersonic Future ..
SAM - Surface-to-Air Missile Defense (S-500) ..
A
surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a
ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or
surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a
missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy
aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of
anti-aircraft system; in modern armed forces, missiles have replaced most other forms of dedicated anti-aircraft weapons, with
anti-aircraft guns pushed into specialized roles.
The first serious attempts at SAM development took place during
WW2, although no operational systems were introduced. Further development in the
1940s and
1950s led to operational systems being introduced by most major forces during the second half of the
1950s. Smaller systems, suitable for close-range work, evolved through the
1960s and
1970s, to modern systems that are man-portable. Shipborne systems followed the evolution of land-based models, starting with long-range weapons and steadily evolving toward smaller designs to provide a layered defence. This evolution of design increasingly pushed gun-based systems into the shortest-range roles.
The American
Nike Ajax was the first operational
guided missile SAM system, and the Soviet Union's
S-75 Dvina was the most-produced SAM. Widely used modern examples include the
Patriot and
S-300 wide-area systems,
SM-6 and
MBDA Aster Missile naval missiles, and short-range man-portable systems like the
Stinger and
Strela-3.
An
anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a
surface-to-air missile designed to counter
ballistic missiles (missile defense). Ballistic missiles are used to deliver
nuclear,
chemical,
biological, or
conventional warheads in a
ballistic flight
trajectory. The term "anti-ballistic missile" is a generic term conveying a system designed to intercept and destroy any type of ballistic threat; however, it is commonly used for systems specifically designed to counter
intercontinental ballistic missiles (
ICBMs).
Russia releases footage of new S-500 air defense system in action: Russia on 21-7-20 released what is thought to be the first footage of its advanced new
S-500 surface-to-air missile system in action, a weapon it
hopes will beef up its own defenses and one day become an export best seller.
Footage released by the defense ministry showed the giant truck-based system's launch tubes firing a missile at high speed into the sky at a testing ground in southern Russia. Parts of the footage had been deliberately blurred or obscured to make it harder to examine the system in detail.
Its predecessor, the S-400 system, has become a source of geopolitical tension with the United States actively discouraging countries from buying it, and, in the case of Turkey, unsuccessfully trying to persuade Ankara to return it.
The
S-500 Prometey (
C-500 Прометей,
lit. 'Prometheus'), also known as 55R6M "Triumfator-M", is a Russian
surface-to-air missile/
anti-ballistic missile system intended to
replace the
A-135 missile system currently in use, and
supplement the
S-400. As of July 2021, the
Russian MOD has released the
first public footage of a live-fire test of the new S-500
anti-ballistic missile system at
Kapustin Yar.
The
S-500 is a new-generation surface-to-air missile system. It is designed for intercepting and destroying
intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as
hypersonic cruise missiles and aircraft, for
air defense against
Airborne Early Warning and Control and for jamming aircraft.
Claims: With a planned range of 600 km (370 mi) for anti-ballistic missile (ABM) and 500 km (310 mi) for air defence, the S-500 would be able to detect and simultaneously engage up to 10 ballistic hypersonic targets flying at a speed of 5 kilometres per second (3.1 mi/s; 18,000 km/h; 11,000 mph) to a limit of 7 km/s (4.3 mi/s; 25,000 km/h; 16,000 mph). It also aims at destroying hypersonic cruise missiles and other aerial targets at speeds of higher than Mach 5, as well as spacecraft. The altitude of a target engaged can be
as high as 180–200 km (110–120 mi). It is effective against ballistic missiles with a launch range of 3,500 km (2,200 mi), the radar reaches a radius of 3,000 km (1,300 km for the EPR 0,1 square meter). Other targets it has been announced to defend against include:
unmanned aerial vehicles,
low Earth orbit satellites, and space weapons launched from hypersonic aircraft,
drones, and hypersonic orbital platforms.
The system will be highly mobile and will have rapid deployability. Experts believe that the system's capabilities can affect enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles at the middle and end portions of flight, but reports by
Almaz-Antey say that the external target-designation system (RLS Voronezh-DM and missile defense system
A-135 radar
Don-2N) will be capable of mid-early flight portion interceptions of enemy ballistic missiles, which is one of the final stages of the S-500 project. It is to have a response time of less than 4 seconds (Compared to the S-400's less than 10).
The S-500 was developed by the
Almaz-Antey Air Defence Concern. Initially planned to be in production by 2014, first delivery was delayed to 2021. With its characteristics, according to
Pravda Report, it is unrivaled by any other similar system in the world, being the first in a new class of space-defense weapons. Also according to Pravda Report, it shares with the US
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system the trait that it will be integrated into a single network of aerospace defense assets.
